BIG-TICKET FAIR BUYS

Sunday

Go ahead and enjoy your $6 funnel cake but remember: The biggest deals at the Colorado State Fair come in the biggest packages.

And few of the sale items are larger than the 1,870-square-feet house Mark Serracino is showcasing near the Events Center.

Serracino, co-owner of Pueblo-based Home Finders Inc., which is making its first appearance at the expo, offers the manufactured custom ranch home with set up for the price of $124,844.

Interested?

While at the fair, you can walk through the actual furnished house. Serracino and his workers began setting up the showcase home nearly two weeks ago.

You can buy that house or visit with Serracino and his nephew, business co-owner Nick Serracino, about dozens of other models and options Home Finders sells.

Mark Serracino said the company chose the Fair for one reason: "The exposure."

Instead of bringing the public to an open house, he's bringing an open house to them — tens of thousands of them, on the Fair's busiest days.

"You can publish all the pictures you want but until you can walk through you can't get the feel," Serracino said.

Again this year, the Colorado State Fair offers big-ticket items for sale: New cars and trucks, whirlpools and spas, sheds, farm and ranch equipment, fireplaces, among other items.

One of the Fair's new sponsors, Weatherport, offers smaller versions of the giant new permanent tent-like structure the company erected as the expo's new Entertainment Tent.

Many of the products are offered at special State Fair discount pricing, a marketing message as common at state fairs as beer and corn dogs.

State Fair General Manager Chris Wiseman said the big-ticket vendors liven up the product mix for visitors.

"We have to offer the public a variety of products. We do that through offering the smallest items to automobiles and pre-manufactured homes," Wiseman said.

The big-ticket vendors also contribute to the expo's operating revenues.

Vendor space for large merchandise can run as high as $5,000 for the 11-day run, Wiseman said.

"Commercial exhibits and food vendors are where we make our money besides the gate and carnival," Wiseman said. Overall, this year's expo will feature 300 large and small vendors.

One of the longest-tenured major sellers is Mike Wiege, owner of Spa Palace, the state's largest spa chain that is marking its 25th year at the State Fair.

Wiege recalls first coming to the Fair after opening his first store in Colorado Springs. Today, his company operates stores in Pueblo, Springs, Fort Collins and three sites in Denver.

The expo's good for business — "Last year was great for us," he noted — but also fills his love of state fairs that dates back to his childhood in a rural town, Wiege said. "It's in my blood," he said.

The big-ticket items give visitors another attraction to see, said Wiege, who displays a half-dozen types of spas at the store's exhibit near the Events Center.

"If you don't have things like this it gets kind of boring. We get a lot of people that say it's just interesting to look at," Wiege said.